Robert M. THOMAS
Robert M. Thomas was hired at NYPL 08/26/1957.
He passed away 03/22/2016
Deborah Trepp:
I met Bob Thomas at the very beginning of my professional career when I interviewed with him and Katherine Lord O’Brien in 1970 for an entry level position at the soon-to-be-opened Mid-Manhattan Library and I thought he was the most dapper, kindest man I had ever met. In the three or four months that we spent working to process all the Mid-Manhattan materials in an un-air conditioned building, he always showed a sharp sense of humor, a necessary sense of the ridiculous, and an inclusive kindness that bound the staff together. If Miss O’Brien was, by nature and need, General Washington, he was her Lafayette – an incredibly smart man, a true professional, and a gentleman of enormous charm and wit. I remember that my father showed up one day to see the Library shortly before we opened, and Mr. Thomas spent an hour showing him around as if he was a major donor or City official; it was an act of kindness that my dad recalled fondly until the day he died. A truly lovely man, he deserves to be remembered and to be missed.
See New York Public Library Newsletter, Issue 11, page 8.
Robert M. Thomas was hired at NYPL 08/26/1957.
He passed away 03/22/2016
Deborah Trepp:
I met Bob Thomas at the very beginning of my professional career when I interviewed with him and Katherine Lord O’Brien in 1970 for an entry level position at the soon-to-be-opened Mid-Manhattan Library and I thought he was the most dapper, kindest man I had ever met. In the three or four months that we spent working to process all the Mid-Manhattan materials in an un-air conditioned building, he always showed a sharp sense of humor, a necessary sense of the ridiculous, and an inclusive kindness that bound the staff together. If Miss O’Brien was, by nature and need, General Washington, he was her Lafayette – an incredibly smart man, a true professional, and a gentleman of enormous charm and wit. I remember that my father showed up one day to see the Library shortly before we opened, and Mr. Thomas spent an hour showing him around as if he was a major donor or City official; it was an act of kindness that my dad recalled fondly until the day he died. A truly lovely man, he deserves to be remembered and to be missed.
See New York Public Library Newsletter, Issue 11, page 8.